Colorado Avalanche: 5 Biggest Frustrations from 2014-15 Season

The 2014-15 Colorado Avalanche season did not go as we had hoped. After the “Why Not Us” of the 2013-14 season, the “Avs New Age’ was supposed to be even better. Instead, the Avalanche went 39-31-12 and failed to make the playoffs. It was a very frustrating year for the Avs Nation.

We have looked at a lot of the possible explanations for the disappointing year — injuries, player frustration, lack of mental preparedness. It’s especially irritating from a Colorado Avalanche fan’s perspective because we’ve felt so helpless all season.

We’re not going to harp on the negative aspects of the Avs. But let’s look at some of the aspects of Avalanche hockey that have especially baffled Avs Nation concerning the 2014-15 season. (Click all the way to the end for some hope!)

Colorado Avalanche Injuries

Dec 23, 2014; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson (6) during the game against the St. Louis Blues at Pepsi Center. The Avalanche won 5-0. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

By now you know the statistic — the Colorado Avalanche lost the most man games in its history. The Avalanche’s 495 man games lost was second only to the Columbus Blue Jackets’ 508 for the 2014-15 season.

Injuries were significant, too. Starting goalie Semyon Varlamov missed 15 of the first 30 games with an injured groin. Center Jesse Winchester never suited up in the regular season. Both winger Jamie McGinn and defenseman Ryan Wilson had their seasons cut shot thanks to injuries.

For me, the most frustrating injury of all was to cornerstone defenseman Erik Johnson. He had arthroscopic knee surgery on January 26, and he was supposed to miss only 3 to 8 weeks. Two weeks after his surgery he was in Philadelphia with renowned trainer Bill Knowles doing reconditioning. (Reconditioning trains the muscles and the athlete to work around an injury without putting further strain on the muscles.) Two weeks later he was done and… nothing.

According to head coach Patrick Roy he didn’t even skate until two weeks after his reconditioning. He participated in a couple practices, but never fully. Erik Johnson missed the entire second half of the season — 34 games (plus one earlier in the season after a scary hit by Arizona Coyotes’ Martin Hanzal).

Then there was center Nathan MacKinnon‘s broken foot… All the injuries for the Avalanche were very frustrating.

Ineffectual Power Play

Come on,

, reach for that puck. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Fedyck-USA TODAY Sports

I don’t know about other Avalanche fans, but somewhere around February I started cringing every time the Colorado Avalanche drew a penalty and went on the power play.

I remember clearly a game in which they blew a 5-on-3 — there were so many that I can’t remember the exact game. However,the Avalanche went on to win the game in that case. I remember coach Roy commenting that the missed opportunity could have killed their momentum, but they powered through.

In later games, they did not power through. We all remember how the statistics started getting stupid — along the lines of 30 power plays and no goals. In the end, the Avalanche finished 29th in the NHL for the power play. A team with high octane offense — forwards like Matt Duchene, Nathan MacKinnon, Alex Tanguay and Gabriel Landeskog as well as D-men such as Tyson Barrie and Erik Johnson pinching in — how could it struggle so on the power play?

The Avalanche looked downright ineffectual on the power play, like they had no idea what to do with a man advantage. Unless, of course, there were fewer than two minutes left and they’d pulled the goalie. Then the intensity showed up. Maybe that’s it — they just didn’t feel the intensity during regular power plays.

Scoring Difficulty

Time and again opponent goalies stopped the Colorado Avalanche offense. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

The Colorado Avalanche’s scoring difficult goes along with the power play. The Avs do not play a game based on defense.

Erik Johnson once described Avalanche hockey thus:

“We’re a fast team. We’re based off speed. We’re based off transition. We’re based off forechecks. We’re establishing that. We have some of the faster forwards in the league. When they’re going, everybody else is going.”

Yet the young guns failed to produce, and the veterans… Jarome Iginla was never meant to be the scoring leader on the team. That’s not the role he was brought in for. Yet all the young guns went through stretches of time when they couldn’t score a goal to save their lives. Remember captain Gabriel Landeskog and December? Yeah, that wasn’t much fun.

Goal Tending

Mar 14, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Calgary Flames right wing

(19) scores on Colorado Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov (1) in the third period at the Pepsi Center. The Avalanche defeated the Flames 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

In the 2013-14 season, stellar goal tending masked some of the team’s flaws. No question but goalie Semyon Varlamov played phenomenal hockey. And he had veteran JS Giguerre to back him up.

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This season, it wasn’t just that Giguerre had retired and that Reto Berra… well, he’s always struggled in an Avalanche uniform. It’s also that Varlamov’s groin went wonky, and he missed a lot of games due to that injury. No one has said, but it’s obvious it plagued him the whole season. He showed flashes of last season’s goalie, but he was nowhere near that level on a consistent basis.

Rookie Calvin Pickard came in and surprised all of us with his excellent goal tending. Yet he’s a rookie, and being an Avalanche goalie (facing lots of shots as the defense jumps into the offensive play) is rough. He was good, but he could never be consistently good any more than Varlamov could.

Which brings us to our last frustration of the season…

Inconsistent Play

Mar 30, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Edmonton Oilers center Anton Lander (51) prepares to shoot the puck as Colorado Avalanche defenseman Zach Redmond (22) dives to defend during the first period at Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

Did anyone else get sick unto death of hearing the Avalanche promise they were going to start playing a “full 60” because they had just failed to do so? Time and again it looked like they took a little vacation somewhere in the game. Then, come the final minutes they’d put on the pressure. Sometimes it worked, but sometimes… well, we all know where the Avalanche ended up.

I have listened to player and coach interviews and talked to athletes about what goes on in a game. There’s no single explanation. Landeskog pointed out several times that the Avs wanted to do better, but things just weren’t working for them. O’Reilly explained that when things aren’t going well, players focus on the outcome instead of the action, and that leads them astray.

We’ve all heard of the choking phenomenon. What happens when athletes choke is they start questioning themselves. Instead of letting their instincts take over, they start trying to think through the moves. That results in even the most accomplished of athletes reverting to a beginner status. It’s a troublesome mindset to get out of.

The Avalanche struggled with that mindset all season. Coach Roy stated before the season even started that the players would have to avoid their fear if they wanted succeed. They did, but at various times, and not soon enough to save the season